Perspectives

Quite a bit longer than a week since I last posted. Twice over, actually! But I'll try to encapsulate my past two weeks! I karaoke a lot! If you'd asked me before I came to Japan that I would enjoy this traditional Japanese pastime, I wouldn't have believed you! But with a good group of people and a little whiskey in me? I'm golden.

Let's see, last weekend I went to Akihabara (anime and technology capitol of the world) and saw lots of awesomely ridiculous stuff! Including a maid cafe. Quite an experience! All these Japanese girls dressed up in maid outfits, acting all subservient and passive towards their predominantly male clientele, but at the same time holding a ridiculous amount of power over their customers. When you order something, they make you do silly things and make funny noises (act like a cat, etc.) before you can eat or drink. This subtle role reversal, of power and subservience was actually quite fascinating (and for 800yen a drink, I better have gotten something else out of it!) The Japanese conscious is a fascinating one.
Sundays are usually catch-up days, getting all of my homework done before the new week begins.

And on Tuesday we did karaoke again! It was so much fun!

Wednesday was a once in a lifetime experience, I made udon noodles from scratch and cooked and ate them. Oishii! It was a VERY labor intensive project. But what was really interesting is that all of the Japanese people I've talked to (other than my host great grandmother) has ever even thought about the process. People are always saying about how traditional Japanese society can be, but last week really made me question that. Or at least question what it means to be uniquely and traditionally Japanese. They certainly are NOT Westerners. They have their own unique outlooks and perspectives, but they are not what you see in anime.

Karaoke again on Friday!

And on Saturday (yesterday), I went to Shibuya and Roppongi with a group of JSP students to do some frankly way too early hanami-ing and make fun of all the funny-looking gaijin we saw. One of my friends made a very good point. When I'm just with foreigners I know and everyone else around is Japanese, it's very easy to consider yourself to be something other that what you are, a gaijin. And you almost make yourself believe you are Japanese. But, when you see other foreigners that you don't know, that perception of misconception is shattered and you realize that you too are a foreigner is a homogeneous land. But it was a lot of fun and I got to try absinthe at a bar in Roppongi! Don't do it. Unless you like black licorice and rubbing alcohol.

Has it really only been only three and a half weeks since I got here? That's surprising to me. It seems like so much longer and I frankly never want it to end!